"This means you will either be in prison, on parole or on probation for the next 40 years," Koury told Ortiz.

Today, defense attorney Alex Karam appealed the sentence, saying it was unfair to treat Ortiz differently than his co-defendants: Ashley Horning, Ashley Eskaff and Isaiah Barker. All three participated in the crime spree and received sentences in Northampton County concurrent to their Lehigh County ones. Only Ortiz, Karam said, received the extended probation. He is asking Koury, who sentenced only Ortiz, to reconsider his order.

Police said the quartet committed seven armed robberies in Allentown, Bethlehem and Palmer Township between July 14 and 18. Eskaff and Horning would scout the location beforehand, and either Ortiz, Barker or both would then rob the store with a pellet gun that looked like a real gun. In an Allentown robbery, Barker fired the pellet gun into a clerk's leg, police said.

The group was finally caught after Bethlehem police observed Barker acting suspiciously outside the 7-Eleven at 2930 Linden St. Barker caught wind that something was wrong and managed to slip a police perimeter, but authorities arrested Horning, Eskaff and Ortiz as they tried to flee in an SUV, police said. The girls later admitted to the crimes, saying they stole for thrills, police said.